Global Policy Forum

By Greta Hopkins

Development: NGOs Criticise EU Ahead Of UN

Conference in Mexico
The 15-nation European Union's preparations for the U.N. conference on financing for development next month in Monterrey are ''too little, too late'', according to European activists.

A coalition of 40 Non-Governmental Organisations signed up to a consensus paper on Financing for Development Monday, in response to a report adopted last week by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm.

The United Nations 'millennium' goal is for aid donors to set aside 0.7 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for development co- operation - the central issue for debate at the conference on financing for development to be held from March 18-22 in Monterrey, Mexico.

As an interim objective, the European Commission proposes that member states, which are currently below the EU average of 0.33 percent undertake to work their way up to that average by 2006, thus bringing the overall average for the EU up to 0.39 percent.

But the European Union does not want to go it alone: ''The challenges are global: extreme poverty, environmental degradation, the spread of contagious diseases, international crime and terrorism. To be effective, our response must be multilateral. Our efforts have to be concerted and shared,'' said the EU Commissioner responsible for Development, Poul Neilson.

However, Marta Arias from the Spanish section of the development NGO Oxfam is very concerned about the role of the EU in the preparations for the Monterrey conference.

She says that although the Commission's report contains some ''interesting'' proposals, including a calendar for reaching aid targets, it lacks ambition. ''We don't even know if all the EU countries will be able to agree on this text,'' said Arias.

Oxfam is particularly anxious that Spain, the country that currently holds the six-month rotating Presidency of the European Union, lacks the political will to sign up to the proposals.

The NGO coalition says that the Monterrey consensus due to be signed by world leaders during the conference has ''no money, no commitments and no ideas''.

The EU States have missed an opportunity to take a strong position in opposition to the U.S., they argue. But now, ''whatever the EU does agree to, it will not be part of the official Monterrey text, and that is in itself a failure'', says Arias.

Jane Finnerup Johnson, from the United Nations Association in Denmark, an organisation dealing with U.N. issues, said the EU must ''go forward and make binding promises, even if it has to make unilateral decisions''. The Danish NGOs are putting pressure on the Danish government, which will be taking up the Presidency of the EU in July this year, to achieve ''concrete results'' in time for the next World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.

The Danish NGOs are calling for all stakeholders, including civil society, to be involved in the process.

The European NGOs are particularly disappointed at the EU's reluctance to back calls for a Currency Transaction Tax (CCT).

Bruno Jetin from ATTAC France, a coalition of NGOs campaigning for the so-called 'Tobin Tax', strongly rejects the five arguments given against such a tax in the Commission's report: ''The decision is not a technical one, it is political,'' he said.

For example, the European Commission argues that the tax would reduce the volume of currency transactions and therefore the liquidity of the markets, thus increasing rather than reducing the volatility of exchange rates. ''Of course the volume of transactions would be reduced - that is the objective,'' replies Jetin.

But the EU Commissioner for Development, Poul Neilson, is clearly not convinced by the idea. ''It is not helpful to get stuck talking about the Tobin Tax, when the real debate is how to increase the volume of aid,'' he said at a press conference on Feb 13.

Harlem Désir, a French Member of the European Parliament, argues that a Tobin Tax must be introduced to respond to the global poverty emergency. ''The international community, especially developed countries, have a heavy responsibility to ensure that poor countries have access to basic human needs, such as health and drinking water,'' says Désir.

''Of course we don't want government funds to replace government funds for development. But we need a new instrument to achieve the 0.7 percent target,'' he said.

According to Désir, the Tobin Tax could generate between 50 billion and 200 billion dollars for international development.

''The millennium development aid targets are not a utopia - they are possible if there is a political will. Europe must not arrive to Monterrey with empty hands,'' said the French politician. (END/IPS/EU/HD/GH/RAJ/02)

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